dimanche 26 avril 2015

Graeme Hamiltonwrites @ The National Post: The new Jewish exodus: Canada seen as safe haven for French Jews in wake of anti-Semitic attacks

Annual Israel march in downtown
Montreal, April 23, 2015.

When a gunman stormed into a kosher supermarket in Paris, seizing
hostages and killing four people, Julien Catan felt tremors all the way
to Montreal. A Paris native, he had walked the streets around the
Hyper-Cacher market thousands of times. His fiancée’s mother had been
shopping there 20 minutes before it was attacked. “What happened in January was a real shock, like never before,” Catan
said in an interview. “I think the impact it had is very profound, and I
think the Jewish community has taken a real hit.”

The murderous targeting of shoppers buying groceries before the
Sabbath, two days after an attack on the journalists of Charlie Hebdo,
came amid a surge in anti-Semitism that has Jews questioning how long
they can remain in France. More than ever, Canada is seen as a safe
haven, and leaders of Montreal’s Jewish community are only too happy to
extend a welcoming hand.

It was love that brought Catan, 28, to Montreal last year when he
joined his fiancée, who had moved from France five years ago to pursue
her studies. But the rise of anti-Semitic hatred back home makes the
Jewish couple reluctant to return as they contemplate raising a family.
Among their circle of Jewish friends in France, many are planning to
leave. “It was perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Catan
said of the January attacks. “It will lead people who were thinking of
leaving to take action.”

Like Catan, Adam Scheier was shaken by news of the January terror
attacks in Paris. The senior rabbi at Montreal’s Congregation Shaar
Hashomayim was at an event in Nashville, and instead of returning home,
he flew immediately to Paris as an expression of solidarity. “I found
fear,” he said in an interview. “Parents were telling me how terrified
they were to send their children to school.”

For Scheier, the sight of heavily armed soldiers guarding Jewish
schools clashed with the safety felt by North America’s Jewish
communities. Since his return, he has been pushing to make that North
American safety available to French Jews. “I think Quebec should
proactively be looking to welcome Jews from France who are looking to
leave,” he said.

“This is a Jewish community that has western liberal values that are
consistent with our Canadian values. This is a Jewish community that is
filled with professionals, people of achievement in law, in business,
medicine, sciences and the arts. This is a vibrant, dynamic community
that could make a contribution to our country, and this is a community
that speaks French, which is something that is very attractive for the
Quebec government.”

Montreal Jewish organizations have recently created a task force in
response to a steep increase in requests for information from French
Jews interested in moving to Canada. Monique Lapointe, manager of
immigration services for the social services agency Ometz, said her
organization alone received 70 such requests in the three months since
the January attacks, double what it would normally receive in a year.
The task force is looking at how the community can smooth immigration
from France, starting by helping potential immigrants navigate the
bureaucracy and letting them know what services are available once they
arrive. [...]

Whatever hurdles immigrants have to overcome, Frederic Saadoun says
it is worth the trouble. He moved from Paris to Montreal with his wife
and young children 10 years ago, as anti-Semitism began to rise in
France. There were assaults on Jewish children, anti-Semitic graffiti
near Jewish schools and advice from a rabbi not to wear Jewish symbols
in public. “We preferred leaving before things got worse,” Saadoun, 46,
said in an interview.

At the time, fellow Jews in France criticized him for leaving, but
now the same people tell him he did the right thing. “There are not a
lot of countries where you die because you are Jewish, but it happens in
France,” he said citing the Hyper-Cacher attack and the 2012 assault on
a Jewish school in Toulouse by an Islamist terrorist who murdered three
children and a rabbi. “There is a physical threat, but what is even more terrible — because
in the end, there is little chance of dying — is to be assaulted in
daily life,” he said. “My father, who lives in southern France, faces
verbal and physical abuse when he leaves synagogue. That sort of thing
happens every day.” He said his son and daughter, 17 and 15, are now perfectly at ease
displaying their Jewish identities in public.

It is when they return to
France to visit family that he has to warn them. “I tell them to be careful. In the métro, don’t show your Star of
David. Don’t display any distinctive symbol showing you are Jewish. They
no longer understand, because here they have no problem, they feel
safe,” he said. “Canada is peaceful and they do not at all feel threatened as Jews.
We have to teach them when they go to France how to behave as threatened
Jews.”More.

France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls has announced an action plan that will make the battle against hatred into “a great national cause,” a plan that will include awareness programs and enhanced punishment for online hate speech, with stiffer prison sentences for hatred-based crimes. The superficially admirable plan springs from honest outrage on Valls’ part — but outrage that has undergone a disquieting sea change since it was first expressed.

After the Charlie Hebdo and kosher-supermarket massacres in January, you may recall, Valls delivered a passionate, widely circulated speech on anti-Semitism in France, declaring the problem of Jewish flight so serious the French Republic must be judged a failure if Jews left en masse. Then, Valls pulled no punches regarding the source of the crisis: “We are at war with terrorism, jihadism and Islamist radicalism.”

That January cri du coeur offered truths that were the gift of spontaneity. With time for second thoughts (and who knows what political pressure), the message Valls now delivers is quite different. Last week the prime minister told suburban high school students: “Racism, anti-Semitism, hatred of Muslims, of foreigners and homophobia are increasing in an unbearable manner in our country.” He added, “French Jews should no longer be afraid of being Jewish and French Muslims should no longer be ashamed of being Muslims.”

Valls’ capitulation to France’s pre-Hebdo default of moral relativism is sad to behold. Valls’ outrage now sees anti-Semitism not as a singular problem, rather as only one of multiple hatreds, and no more distressing than hatred of foreigners (who?), gays and — of course — Muslims.

The truth, which Valls understood very well in January, is that there is no hatred for any group in France equivalent to that of Jew hatred, routinely expressed in virulent hate speech, vandalism, beatings and murder. Foreigners, gays and Muslims are not fleeing France. The institutions of foreigners, gays and Muslims are not being guarded around the clock. Fifty-five per cent of hate-driven acts are not happening to foreigners, gays and Muslims, but to Jews (1% of the population). Suite.

Back in December 2014, the leader of the Independent Greeks party, Panos Kammenos, has claimed during an interview that only the Orthodox Church pays taxes in Greece but not the Buddhists, the Jews and the Muslims. Stavroula Xoulidou, another MP of the same party, has suggested in an essay that the “World Zionist Movement” threatens the Greek nation.

Let's be clear, the
conference scheduled on 25th April in Berlin is not a pro-Hamas
gatherhing. It is a meeting of major Hamas-organisations in Europe itself. The
organisations behind this conference are mentioned in the official
propaganda-poster:

·The Palestinian Return
Center (PRC), the most important Hamas-organisation in Europe, which is
operating in several countries.

·The
Palästinensische Gemeinschaft in Deutschland (Palestinian Communion in
Germany), the German Hamas-Front, which was already involved in the Hamas-conference
in Wuppertal/Germany 2011.

·The Palestinians
in Europe Conference another major Hamas-organisation in Europe, which is
operating inter alia in Austria and Germany. Its seat is in Austria.

The gathering is
titled the 13th Conference of Palestinians in Europe. Palestinians
in Europe and the Palestinian National-Project.“ It will be held in the Arena
Berlin a huge event compound at the river Spree. Speakers aside of Hamas will
include European politicians, the vice chairman of AKP Yasin Aktay is also expected. As in last conferences the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Europe will also attend the gathering, though it is not mentioned in the
offical announcement, to obscure the true nature of this conference. The
Muslim Brotherhood in Europe is organized in the Federation
of Islamic Organisations in Europe (FIOE).
Former conferences included scores of Anti-Semitic
posters.

While many news
describe the conference as pro-Hamas event, in order to support Hamas terror
against Israel, one has to understand, that Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood front
organisations are not just supporting terror with money and propaganda. In fact
Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas fronts have an European agenda too and are heavily
involved in the indoctrination of Muslims youths and the organisation of
Anti-Zionist activities, which, as we saw in last summer, more and more
escalate into open attacks on Jews in Europe. Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are
part of the same network, many important Anti-Zionist avtivities in Europe are organized
by these organisations in alliance with AKP-front organisations, Milli
Görüs (a Turkish antisemitic movement) and other Islamic extremist
organisations. These organisations bear a direct responsibilty for the
escalation of Anti-Semitism in Europe. They are well entrenched in politics,
supported and protected by politicans.

The head of the
Palestinians in Europe Conference is Adel Abdallah aka Adel Doghman. Doghman
was the head of the Palestinensische Vereinigung in Österreich (Palestinian
Association in Austria), which was designated 2003 by the US as a terrorist
organisation. The successor organisation of the Association is the
Koordinationsforum zur Unterstützung Palästinas (Coordination Forum in Support
of Palestine), which has strong ties to Austrian politicians. The Coordination
Forum is deeply entreched in the Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich
(IGGiÖ - Islamic Denomination in Austria) the official and legal body of
Islamic organisations in Austria. Austrian politicians and antifascist
organisations decided to turn a blind eye on the fact that all major
Anti-Semitic events in Austria are not organized by Nazis but the IGGiÖ. As in
Austria you will find Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood fronts (for example the Union des organisations islamiques de France
- UOIF in France) as major players in the radicalisation
of Muslims in Europe and as in Austria no one will dare to confront these
organisations. So their incitement and radicalisation program will go on and
bear its results.

By 2050, 51 percent of Jews are expected to live in the Middle East — almost all in Israel — and 37 percent in North America. The number of Jews in Europe is expected to decline more precipitously and outpace general European population shrinkage, according to the [Pew] report. [...]

In Europe, Muslims are expected to grow to 10 percent of the population in 2050, from 6 percent in 2010.

Jeffrey Goldberg @ the Atlantic has written an article following "the discussion surrounding my cover story for the April edition of The Atlantic, about the future—or non-future—of Europe's Jews." He pays particular attention to a letter from a Belgian Jew. The letter reflects the terrible uncertainty and anxiety experienced by Jews in Belgium. Sadly, it also shows that Belgian Jewish leaders aren't capable of offering guidance or to give a clear picture of the situation. Indeed, with a few exceptions, they are notorious for their infighting. They are also divided along linguistic lines Flemish Jews (mostly in Antwerp) and French-speaking Jews (mostly in Brussels). It is worthwhile reminding our readers what Christopher Caldwell pointed out on the Financial

Times in 2006:"A Belgian Arab group released a cartoon showing Adolf Hitler in bed with Anne Frank. “Europe, too, has its sacred cows,” said the group’s leader, Dyab Abou Jahjah, “even if they are not religious sacred cows.”" That leader, Dyab Abou Jahjah, as this blog has reported, has become a columnist for the Standaard, is highly regarded by the media and the establishment. Le Soir praises him to the skies and has hailed him as an "opinion leader" (26/03/2015).

Jeffrey Goldberg:

[...] I wanted to try to answer a particular question sent to me by a reader in Belgium. [...] a Jewish person in Belgium who asked to remain anonymous: "I read your article, and the experience of the Jews of Belgium is similar, or maybe worse, than the experience in France, because our government is quiet on the subject and there are not so many of us here. However, I don't want to leave. This is my country. You probably feel that way about your country. If you were a Belgian Jew, what do you think you would do?"

The answer is very difficult, of course. As I wrote in the article, I do not sense a great future for Jews across much of Europe. The trends are not moving in positive directions, even putting aside the most obvious negative trend of all: In 1939 there were nine million Jews in Europe, and today there are roughly 1.4 million.

But my answer is this: If I were a completely assimilated Jew, one who, say, has married out of the faith; one who is not raising my children Jewish; and one who does not associate with Jewish people in specifically Jewish places, then I think I would be fairly safe in Belgium. It is possible to be secure in a place like Belgium by avoiding Jewish institutions (synagogues, schools, and so on) and, of course, by not participating in any obviously Jewish activity, or dressing in an obviously Jewish manner. So it comes down to a person's relationship with Judaism.

Obviously, the Nazis are not coming, and so it is not unduly dangerous to have Jewish ancestry. The article I wrote, however, was about normative Jewish life. For those people who want to be actively Jewish, a place like Belgium could, in fact, be dicey. I suppose that if I lived in Belgium, and could afford to be mobile, I would be getting mobile. But these are terribly hard questions. If I had parents, or siblings, who were tied to Belgium, I probably wouldn't be so quick to look for an exit. More.

[...] I returned to Paris in 2004. I had never had Arab colleagues before, but on my first project upon returning there were quite a few. They were born in North Africa, highly educated and in France to get work experience before going back home. We had a few conversations about politics – not unusual in France. Some of them told me that there was a tradition of anti-Semitism in their country, especially among the older generations. They themselves didn’t seem anti-Semitic at all. However talking about Israel was much more difficult. I tried very hard to have an exchange with those I considered I could. But it was almost impossible. They always came back to the ‘Deir Yassin’ massacre or videos they would have seen of Israeli soldiers torturing Palestinians. I completely disagreed with their point of view, but I could understand why they felt compelled to have a strong opinion on the matter being fellow Arabs/Muslims.

With the French (non-Jewish) colleagues on the other hand, it was much harder to understand why they cared so much about that issue – and seemingly no other. I would have to dig very deep to find any similarity between someone born in France or Gaza. I now think it goes back to the French traditional anti-Semitism.

They cannot stand to see the Jews having their own independent place on earth. Believing that the Israeli Jews kill Palestinians may relieve them of their guilt of being Nazi collaborationists during WW2. I remember spending hours in the evening researching on the internet and reading books to try and ensure that I had the ‘right’ argument for these often heated exchanges. It was exhausting and so unfair. I don’t believe any other people are guilty by default like the Jews and need to defend themselves like we do. In the end I just gave up and avoided the subject.

Burial of Ilan Halimi in Jerusalem

Then there was Ilan Halimi in 2006. A young Jewish man kidnapped in Paris by a gang of ‘barbarians’ – that’s what they called themselves – because they thought all Jews were rich. He was held captive in the basement of a housing commission and tortured for 3 weeks until he was left for dead on the street. Around me and in the media they tried by all means to prove it was not an anti-Semitic act. They couldn’t stand that if it was actually anti-semitism. They focused more on the killers than the victim to try and find excuses. They also blamed the Israeli prime minister for asking the Jews to leave France.

After our holidays, my husband [who is not Jewish] mentioned our trip [to Israel] to his work colleagues. They attacked him with indignation – how could he go to this murderous country! They were not Arabic or Muslim, just French. My husband was shocked by the comments – especially coming from those he had become quite close to. He had never experienced something like that in Australia. [...]

Jewish victims of
Mohamed Mehra

Today I hear there are almost no Jewish children in public schools, even in the centre of Paris. It has become very difficult to teach about the Shoah even though it is part of the curriculum. Jews cannot walk in Paris wearing a kippah for fear of being attacked. During the last Gaza operation in July 2014, mobs took the streets of Paris screaming ‘Kill Jews’, burned Jewish shops and attacked a synagogue terrorising those locked inside.

This year there was “Charlie Hebdo” and “Hyper Casher”.

The Jews are leaving France in numbers. I don’t see what can improve this situation. Israel is constantly slandered in the media and people dare to say that the Jews, because of Israel, are responsible for what is happening to them. They say the real victims are the Muslims and they should be protected. The government has deployed the army in front of all the Jewish schools, and it is the Jews not the Muslims who are leaving the country because they fear for their lives.

I have never seen a crazy mob on the streets of Paris calling to kill the Muslims – but I have seen violent Muslims calling to kill the Jews. More.